Using YouTube for Spin

I find myself at a dilemma dealing with my post today. On one hand I have my complete and utter disliking of police officers. On the other, my detestation of dumb asses. I am talking of the University of Floriduh student Andrew Meyer incident in which he gets Tased for his antics at a John Kerry forum. The videotape of him “disturbing the peace” can be seen on YouTube. It is causing debates and protests around the U.S. The two police officers involved are now on leave with pay until the mess gets sorted out. The way the story was spun got two people in trouble for doing what they had to do.

In the police officer’s offense statement, Meyer told the police that they were doing their job and didn’t do anything wrong. He was resisting arrest, using violence against police officers. It was protocol for the police to render him useless by a non-lethal force. They did that. And now two officers suffer because they did their job. I say they should have shot him with a gun right in the knee and then there would be something to talk about….but I digress.

The problem was, it was staged. Meyer handed his video camera off to a girl and told her to record what was about to happen. He knew he was going to cause a problem and he was well aware of the police presence. He wanted it to happen. He set up the video and posted it to the Internet. He used the Internet as a spin machine. Within a week, millions of readers were introduced to him and his Web site.

I believe this is a form of spin because viewers didn’t get all the information. No one knew that Meyer was notorious for trying to get attention. No one knew he had his own camera there knowing he was going to create a ruckus. The footage shows the cops asking him to leave in a civilized manner, but he refused to go without a fight. The facts weren’t laid out in front of the viewer, and it ends up hurting the people doing their job. — Andrew Smith